What I'm Doing by Trina

June 1, 2013, I attended my last Weight Watcher meeting. 

Why? I was no longer excited about attending my weekly meeting and my weight continued to fluctuate. I would be up a pound or two when everything in my tracker suggested that there should have been a loss. Then there were the weeks when I ate cookies and other junk and the scale would show a loss. Also I was having difficulty resisting certain foods like dairy. Although I was eating what is consider to be the healthy versions - plain greek yogurt and lowfat milk, I found it very difficult to not have them everyday and multiple times a day.

I started reading books on perimenopause and discovered that I needed to work on being more in tune with my body instead of being consumed by the number of points in my food. So I decided that since this journey is all about developing healthy habits then I should really focus on what that means for me. In order to do that I need to find out which foods are truly healthy for me. 

I found a book call "The Conscious Cleanse . . " by Jo Schaalman and Julie Pelaez at the library and it seems like a good place to start since my children and I all have at least one known food allergy. 

The book takes you through a gentle 14 day cleanse where you avoid foods that are known allergens for many people. You avoid the following: alcohol, dairy, caffeine, chocolate, corn, eggs, grapefruit, nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers), oranges, peanuts, shellfish, soy, squash and sweet potatoes, strawberries, sugar, wheat and gluten products and yeast for 14 days then you add them back one at a time noting any problems you notice. 

What you can have includes: other vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds; oil, vinegars, herbs, spices, legumes; grains and seeds like amaranth, brown rice, buckwheat, millet, quinoa, wild and black rice; Animal protein - cold water fish, organic free range chicken, turkey and duck; see the book for a more detail list.

I like this book and how it encourages you to pay attention to your body because even some of the permitted  foods could pose a problem for some people. Also journal writing is a big part of the program.

The areas where I think the book could improve include: more recipes ideas especially for breakfast just in case you're not a big fan of green smoothies and more details concerning the foods you avoid. For example, wheat and gluten products are on the avoid list, but when you research this you find that all grains contains some form of gluten.

All in all I think it's a very good book, and if you can afford to do the cleanse along with the authors you would more than likely receive answer to any questions you have. The cost to participate is about $200. Here's a link to their website:   http://consciouscleanse.com/

I'm doing the cleanse on my own and I started yesterday, July 5. Yesterday was not too bad except I didn't do a good job of planning my meals, but here's what I ate:
-  Before breakfast: The required 1 quart of warm lemon water. I added 1 tbsp. of ground flaxseed to the last glass.
- fruit and nuts for breakfast
- for lunch: a large salad with homemade lemon, ginger and cilantro dressing
- black beans prepared with a little extra virgin olive oil, red onions, garlic and cilantro over
brown rice for dinner
- snacks: peaches, and some watermelon 
- and more water
A link about gluten:   http://urbanposer.blogspot.com/2012/01/what-theres-no-such-thing-as-gluten_02.html

I also started The Vice-Busting Diet with my eldest daughter because doing things with a buddy somehow makes it seem easier. This book encourages getting rid of diet vices and replacing them with good habits, one at a time. More on this book next time.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I did manage lose and keep off a total of 27 pounds with Weight Watchers.